Whether Language is Instinctive or Learned

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Whether Language is Instinctive or Learned

Over the course of time the topic of language has been a catalyst for many discussions and debates as to if it is learned throughout one's life, or is it a hard copy instinct the one is born with. Many scientists and writers in the humanities field have their own opinions as to what they believe about language and its plight in human society. One writer challenges many of our educators and scholars today by expressing his thoughts on the instinct to understand, learn, and speak language.

In The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language, Steven Pinker maintains that language is not something that we learn like the way we learn how to tell time or learn about the presidents. Rather, Pinker suggests that the essence of language is already with us when we are brought into the world. You see this when Pinker argues, "Instead, it is a distinct piece of the biological makeup of our brain"(4). He uses metaphors and similes to further qualify his arguments. Pinker compares the idea that people know how to talk in the same sense th...

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